Dear friends,

As the January rapidly approaches, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your support. May the New Year bring you the incredible wealth that is friends and family, may you find peace in your heart, and deep, delicious happiness throughout your life.

This week’s menu will be special orders only, in observance of – well – everything. Please email me with any orders and special requests. Love and peace!

Best Wishes,
Ella

Dear Friends,

Everyone is talking about the holidays, the holidays… What to buy, where to go, what to wear and who to spend time with. The holidays seem to be all about exhausting yourself by the pursuit of excellence.

Nonsense. This week’s message is a reminder to take extra-good care of yourself. This is when people get sick. Not just from the frequent change in weather, but from the influx in unhealthy foods, and a reduction in us-time. January Cleanse anyone? I encourage everyone to take some time to spend with themselves and focus on a plan to include more health-supportive food and activities. Like doing a few heart-opening stretches as outlined below.

This week I welcome two very special guests to our weekly email forum: AMEET MATURU, a Health and Nutritional Counselor with a private practice in Brooklyn, and SARA-KATIE GILLESPIE, a Yoga Instructor and Art Historian with a healthy yoga following in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Enjoy these contributions.

Much love,
Ella

Opening your heart to the holidays

Heart opening counters the forward slump of the shoulders many of us adopt during cold weather, and these invigorating poses also help alleviate depression. If you’re feeling overwhelmed due to the many obligations the season brings, try a few energizing bridge poses. Lie on your back with your feet planted hip-distance apart and parallel, arms resting, palms down, by your sides. On an inhale, press into your feet and lift your pelvis to the sky. If the shoulders allow, gently roll the shoulders underneath the upper back and clasp your hands beneath you. Keep your feet parallel and use your thighs, not your seat, to keep your pelvis lifted. Feel your heart blossoming open from the lift of your sternum. Hold this for three to five slow, deep breaths, and unclasp the hands and gently lower your hips to the ground. Rest on your back for a few breaths (do not pull the knees to the chest), and repeat twice. After your third bridge, you can counter this pose by softly lifting the legs directly to the sky and allowing the low back to engage with the earth.

By Sara-Katie Gillespie, Yoga Instructor

Feeling spacey? Eat your root veggies

This ancient remedy has been on my mind ever since a session with my client Sejal yesterday. She was in high spirits, but had a hard time staying focused during our call. As a result we ended up jumping from one topic to the other. It was clear she needed some support to 'get grounded.'

Read more here: http://www.riceoflife.com/2008/10/feeling-spacey-eat-your-root-veggies.html

Ellavation is coming!

For those of you seeking a gentle cleanse, Ellavation is happening all month in January. Get that body of yours back in action with a slow, contemplative cleanse designed to get you realigned with your optimum self. For more information click here http://www.theregalvegan.com/site/ellavation or call Ella at 917.273.6888.

Dear Friends,

As each passing day brings more news of a crashing economy, ethnic and civil world-wide strife it makes me think of the perfect way to deal. It’s actually kind of easy: Get closer.
Closer to the people that make the things you buy – food from local farmers, wares from local stores, art/t-shirts/gifts from local artists, and major purchases that are made in the USA. It may require more label reading, and more investigation, but it’s a great way to support our economy. Grassroots style.

I don’t mean to get political. It just gets me that middle men get 82 cents of every dollar we pay for food when we buy it from a store, and 100 cent of every dollar goes right to the farmer when we buy directly from them. Food you get from a supermarket has been sitting on a shelf 4-7 days, and generally travels 1,500 miles to get there, often from other countries. So you’re not actually paying for food, but for its transportation, marketing and the vacations of the rich and powerful in control. Phooey.

It’s just one of the reasons most of our produce at The Regal Vegan comes from Upstate NY, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If anyone is going to be traveling 1,500 miles, it better be one of us, on a much-needed vacation.

Please enjoy a beautiful, though brisk second week of December.

p.s. the attached photo is our newest fan, Corey Feldman at The Farm Sanctuary Benefit.

Much Love,
Ella

Dear Friends,

I am glad so many of you took the time to unbuckle the pants and lay on the couch last week. You deserve it. I hope all of you had the foods you craved, the company you missed and the deserts you dreamed about. I hope you did all that and then loosened another button and went back for more because it is healthy to do that once a year. Maybe even twice.

The two sides of the coin are you feel good – until you feel bad. The part where you have to hold your stomach and walk around in circles waiting for the excess to subside. Where you wish you smoked just so could have some digestive ease. Where you fall asleep from tryptophane and food coma.

The alternative is eating different foods and eating till you’re full and feeling great about it. No coma. No unbuckling of the pants. Just satisfied with your meal, feeling cared for by the food, and stopping when you’ve had enough. Relishing every morsel and then – wow, I have the energy to do x,vy and z.

If you haven’t yet, give this week’s food a try. You may just enjoy the gluttony.

Much love,
Ella